Traditional art and sketching

Peruse our Sketching from the Imagination series, start your own sketch journal, or try your hand at clay sculpting! If you’re a complete beginner looking for a new hobby, or even an experienced artist looking for inspiration and workflow insights, our traditional art and sketching resources have plenty to offer!

3D digital art

Covering a wide variety of software and approaches, our books, magazines, and eBooks are there to offer you the support and motivation you need. Whether you want to sculpt a monster in ZBrush or create a stylized character in 3ds Max, take a look at our range to start your next project!

3D Art - Modelling, Digital and Game Art

Learn how to make a fun steampunk heroine with the guidance of skilled character artist Roumen Filipov, with 3D model and texture assets included! This eBook covers an entire character creation workflow, from modeling organic and hard surfaces in ZBrush, to topology and UVing with 3ds Max, to posing and rendering the final model. Discover useful techniques that’ll add life to your characters, from creating skin pores to simple posing with the free Super Simple Rig. (ZBrush, 3ds Max with V-Ray, and Photoshop are required for this project.)

This month we get to know two brilliant and unconventional artists – Mike Winkelmann, aka beeple, and Gleb Alexandrov of Creative Shrimp – and learn about their inspirations, careers, and impressive work ethics. We also take a look behind the scenes of some inspiring ZBrush work with James Suret, Marco Plouffe and Aram Hakze.

Photorealistic car renders are a staple of the 3D industry, but mastering this subject is notoriously difficult! To lead you through these complex steps, 3ds Max pro Hasan Bajramović explains the process over eight chapters as he guides you through the creation of a 1936 Delage D8 120S. From blocking out the basic shape, modeling the interior, to image-based lighting, this eBook covers it all to help you become a master of creating vintage cars.

John A. Martini covers the entire process of developing a stunning photoreal scene, from pre-viz and setting up the 3ds Max physical camera, through modeling in Maya, creating objects in 3ds Max, texturing and shading, and finally culminating with in-depth tuition for lighting and rendering the final scene. Featured software includes: 3ds Max, Maya, V-Ray, Photoshop, ZBrush, and NUKE.

If you’re a fan of sci-fi and monsters, you’re in for a treat with this new issue. We interview Seb Barker, VFX supervisor behind the upcoming Monsters: Dark Continent, and Capcom artist Naru Omori, who’s worked on such videogame series as Resident Evil and Dead Rising. We meet sculptor Jake Anderson’s clay monsters, learn how to create sci-fi vehicles in 3ds Max and Maya, and look at modeling hard-surface robots in ZBrush.

Welcome to our first issue of 2015, packed with great content to kick-start your year! Try modeling rugged sci-fi vehicles in 3ds Max and Maya, or creating an icy cave in ZBrush with Glen Southern, or learning about Render Masks in V-Ray 3.0 with Toni Bratincevic. How about starting some good new habits with our top tips for ZBrush and Maya?

Luciano Iurino reveals the key to creating realistic textures in a three-chapter e-book guide dedicated to shaders. Focusing on textures and lighting in 3ds Max, discover how to create the perfect textured finish to your models in this three-chapter e-book guide. Luciano’s lessons will teach you how to create the great results on both the free model provided, which you can also apply to your own assets.

This month, it is time to get started on some exciting new projects! Learn how to create a strong basis for your images with previz guidance to help you develop photoreal scenes and classic cars. You can also find out how to turn your photographs into perfect tillable textures with our guide to creating a texture library.

To kick-start another year of fantastic 3D creations, we have loads of inspiring content to get you thinking. Why not begin 2014 by developing your own texture library with Scott Davis, or hone your prop-sculpting skills with Joseph Harford?

Andrew Hickinbottom has notoriously kept his character-creation secrets close to his chest. He reveals all in this helpful project breakdown of his popular stylized character, Olivia. Discover how he tackles modeling, texturing, lighting, and even how he creates convincing backgrounds to sell his characters in the money shot!

This month, the 3dcreative habitat is a hub of biodiversity populated by frogs, lizard monsters, goblins, mermaids and even a few humans. Character designers will be in their element, as we have plenty of advice to help you develop your own concepts - be they photoreal, cartoon or completely imaginary!